Harry Potter and the True Heir
by Lilia3
Summary: As new allies enter Harry's life so do new obstacles. Will the love of his friends help Harry begin to fill the hole in his heart left when Sirius died? Will he even let them? In the end,his sixth year will proove to be more exciting than he'd ever thi
1. Default Chapter

**Chapter One**

Petrified was on top of Fear's station,

clinging to the edges and looking in all directions.

Cruel was burying Despair in the sand,

And when Anxious began to push me up to help Despair,

Vengeful held me back...

Dreary came over and lay down next to me.

Nervous kept yelling at Curious

To stop going so far into the ocean.

Stephen Bohler

"Vernon!" Petunia screeched from the foyer, rousing Harry from a rare, and needed, rest.

Harry quickly thought of the few things he had done lately. Certainly he hadn't done anything to deserve that particular tone today. He had not even ventured down the stairs since his Uncle's return from work. In fact, he rarely made the trip when anyone besides Petunia was on the main floor. He had no desire to be in Vernon's presence, and Dudley avoided Harry as though he had the Plague.

Harry felt more badly than he would ever admit about what happened to Dudley that day last summer. He didn't know what Dudley felt but everyone's horror was their own. And Harry was not one to pry. At least Petunia knew that this was not Harry's doing. Delores Umbridge might have been the cause but Dudley was feeling the effects as much as her intended victim.

Harry pulled himself out of his bed dumping a Potions text on floor with little thought. Out of his room in a flash, and crouched halfway down the stairs to eaves drop through the open door to the kitchen.

"An American in our neighborhood, Vernon! It is a disgrace! What if you have a client over and she is running around! Disgraceful! I went to bring her a cake to welcome her and she did not even invite me in! Terrible manners! I'll not have it. We must organize an association of the neighbors and make her leave." Harry tuned her out as she started to get on a roll.

An American in the neighborhood. That might actually make him look good for once. He half hoped the new resident of Privet Drive would serve Petunia a bit of her own medicine. The small smile that found its way to his face was more positive emotion than he had felt in the weeks since, well, just since.

He returned to the small room that said so much about him. His invisibility cloak spilled out of his trunk with a metallic shimmer. An empty cage sat on the corner of the small battered desk closest to the window. A stack of letters several inches high on the opposite end. A framed picture placed prominently next to his bed, the only item on his bedside table besides a lamp missing its shade. His parents smiled proudly and waved madly at him. He often waved back.

That was simply further example of Harry's young life. During he holidays he talked to his long-dead parents. He knew they would never answer back. But part of him did feel that where ever they were they could hear him. Perhaps Sirius could hear him as well. Of that he was not so sure. Of his parents' death he was certain, painfully so. But he still felt so many doubts in regards to his godfather. The obvious lack of an infamous blast of green light was making it hard to accept, or even believe.

Harry realized he had only seen death by the Killing Curse. He had seen Cedric and his parents die at the hands of a ruthless man who used a flash of green light like matches. Sirius's major foe was physics. Momentum, trajectory, gravity, and chance overwhelmed righteousness and just.

In his head Harry knew that Bellatrix cast the spell that pushed Sirius through that veil. He knew that he really did. He is continually assuring the others that he really did know that. He knew that in his head.

His heart was another manner. For Harry Potter was a strange adolescent male. He led always with his heart. He would never admit this either, but then perhaps he did not know. His heart was broken with the loss of his one true advocate. He had lost the one person whom he thought would always be in his corner. In his heart, he felt he had brought Sirius to the Ministry that night. His decision to fly, at night, on a large winged creature from Scotland to London killed his champion.

But really he knew that Bellatrix Lestrange killed Sirius Black, her own cousin. He did.

Harry's success with Occlumency went from dismal to nonexistent on a daily basis. Each night producing differing results. Soon he began to hope for the routine pain of his nightmares. These, of course, revolved alternately from his parents to Cedric to Sirius and back again. He could handle these in his own way. It was the others that were tough. The ones the slipped through his weak shield were more painful than those his own mind sent at him. Voldemort was not always the culprit of these attacks, often enough it was the link they shared. It seemed that Harry's nemesis had far more control of the link than he. Voldemort would inevitably sense Harry's presence in the link and turn what would be painful to downright torture. This was not always the case. In those, Harry learned more than he should. So often he'd wake afterward and scramble to write what he'd seen even as it slipped away.

His current feelings for Professor Dumbledore aside, he always sent the information he had. Though he suspected that Snape had more, Harry was not going to sit idly by. He was doing what he thought might help. He realized it was minimal at best, but it was something. Hedwig was exhausted from the trips back and forth between Scotland and Surrey, not mention Hermione, the Burrow, and the Order.

Days later as his birthday approached, and he hoped the end of his imprisonment at Number four, found Harry in the shade of the tree in the small park. He knew there was a minder near by, though he did not care. He was used to it now. He thought it might be Tonks but she hadn't made any noise in a while, so there could have been a change. Harry flipped the page on the book he'd stolen from the house. It was a war novel of Uncle Vernon's. A hardcover early edition, only the best for him of course. Though Harry knew it had not even been opened since they purchased it. He found it interesting. It was primarily the accounts of soldiers during the Second World War; officers, survivors of dead soldiers, and reporters were mixed in as well. Perhaps he might be able to find something similar for the last war with Voldemort. _That might be a bit of a help,_ Harry thought not without sarcasm. After this war, if he survived, he could write one. Give a true account of what happened.

Harry looked up to see the sun setting lower in the sky than he's anticipated. He imagined it must be near dinner time now. He'd best head to the house. Petunia was convinced that if she fed him as much as she fed Dudley the Order would leave them alone. Not that Harry was complaining he'd not eaten this much at home in years, if ever.

Harry was lost in thoughts of Hogwarts feast past as he walked up Privet Drive. He stopped and quickly checked for cars, as he was about to step into the street a door slammed behind him.

"Hey!"

Harry turned to the voice and was met with the sight of his new neighbor. She stopped in front of him and smiled up at him. He had to be several inches taller than she was, but he had this feeling she could take him in a fight with little trouble.

"You live with the family across the street, yeah?" she asked him. Harry looked at her strangely. Her accent sounded strange in his ears. It was American, of that he was sure. But he really thought he could hear something British in there.

He finally responded, "Er, yes, I live with my Aunt and Uncle."

"That fat bloke is your cousin right," she continued. That sealed it. She was British. Harry was confused and he was a little uneasy. If she was passing herself off as American and she was really British, why was she hiding it? He took a step back from her. He was full ready to sprint across the street and away from this liar.

"Yeah, he is," he offered carefully. He was finding himself a bit protective of Dudley as of late.

"Nasty little bugger. He and his friends rode their bikes through my lawn. It was a very nice welcome to the neighborhood. Not that his mother was much better, I could hear her yelling about me from my backyard. I'm Kate by the way. Kate Sawyer," she smiled kindly at him and held out her hand.

He shook her hand, "I'm Harry."

"Fab to meet you Harry. You up to making some extra cash this summer?" The slight woman asked.

"Yeah, sure, I guess," Harry hesitated.

"How are you with a paint roller?"

The next morning found Harry spreading pink primer on the living room walls of Kate's house. The pink primer was starting to give him a raging headache. A few more feet of wall and he could take a break. He had to finish this before Kate returned from London. He still didn't trust her, but she was paying him, and he was keeping busy.

Needless to say Petunia and Vernon were less than pleased when Harry told them he'd be helping out the new neighbor for a while. Petunia had screeched for twenty minutes on how Dudley would have been a much better choice. Harry found this endlessly amusing since Dudley had never done anything even resembling hard labor in his life. Why should he when Harry was the family's indentured servant.

Harry sat on the sofa in Kate's living room admiring the job he'd done. He'd never painted with red before. The Dursley's painted everything white to show off how normal and clean their lives were. The red took two coats and that vile pink primer but it looked good. It reminded Harry of Gryffindor. Kate should be back soon, and hopefully she'd think he did a good job. He didn't see any streaks but that was probably because he didn't want to see any.

The door from the garage opened and Kate called out to him in a fake Cuban accent. "Honey! I'm home!" Harry smiled. At least if she was lying she was funny.

"Harry!" Kate exclaimed. "It looks great! I didn't expect you to have it all finished today! And no streaks!" She looked around in wonder.

Harry was confused. Why wouldn't he have had it finished? She asked him to do it today. Kate looked at Harry.

"You hungry? I stopped and got Thai on the way in from the city. Do you like Pork Satay?"

Harry nearly devoured the take-away. This in hindsight was probably not the smarteset thing to do when he didn't entirely trust the person providing the food. Though after years of near starvation, he rarely refused any food offered him. Plus, it was really good.

Harry still had not heard from anyone about when he'd be able to join his friends. His minders weren't talking and neither were Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Lupin was currently unavailable, but then that was understandable. They had written quite a lot this summer. Usually the letters were full to the brim with small talk and homework questions and the requested answers. Remus, as he requested Harry call him, found it fun to often throw responses back at him while he was on duty. Harry had nearly hexed him into the new millennium the first time. Imagine you are a strung out, sleep deprived, armed teenager and a ball of parchment smacks you in the face out of nowhere. You'd react in the same way. The memory still made Harry smile. He got the feeling that Remus had risked exposure that day for that seemingly small action.

He was headed back to Privet Drive from a lazy walk around Little Whinging. With each step he had to resist the urge just to run away. If all of his things weren't in that house he might just do that. Disappearing for a while seemed like a superb idea to him. He knew that would be neither safe nor smart. So he continued to keep it as a nice safe, not-so-secret fantasy.

He turned from Magnolia Crescent on to Privet Drivve when he felt the earth give a mighty tremor.

"Odd, there aren't usually earthquakes in England," Harry said aloud to himself. He knew of course, that anything supremely odd in Little Whinging usually involved him and magic. And that was never a good thing.

As he stood on the sidewalk in front of number 8 Privet Drive, he felt a wave of power crash through him; he saw it ripple in the air toward Number four. The wards had fallen. He knew this. He could feel it. The majority of protection granted him was gone. He needed to get inside. He broke into a sprint. They were coming. He knew they were.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The great epochs in our lives

are at the points when we gain the courage

to rebaptize our badness as the best in us.

Nietzsche

Harry was stopped in front of the house. His instincts were in overdrive. As Hermione had said, his "saving people thing" was on full alert.

He didn't want to have to pull out his wand any sooner than absolutely necessary. Though he knew that he would be safer in the house, he could not defend from within. He tried calling for a minder and got no response. He couldn't be the only one who had felt the wards crash down. As these thoughts crossed his mind he saw Kate step out of her own house. This was a different Kate than he was used to.

Clad in gray trousers and a black shirt with just one sleeve was not what made her different. It was the gun in her left hand and the power he could feel pouring off of her from across the street.

She looked at him strangely and crossed to the middle of the street. Harry joined her. The handle of his wand was resting in the cup of his hand.

"Did you feel that?" Kate asked as she scanned the street in both directions. Harry could not hide his surprise.

"You felt it?" he asked in a whisper. Kate looked sharply back at him. Suddenly it was as if a look of comprehension crossed her face. And just as quickly her eyes slid to his famous scar.

"You're Harry Potter?" Kate said so quietly he almost missed it. She let loose a string of curses to make a sailor proud. Harry smiled. Even he knew that it was the first genuine smile he'd offered in months. "I knew there were wizards or witches in the area; I could feel the wards. But I didn't realize it was you! It never even crossed my mind. Why the hell would it? Harry Potter lives across the street from me and I treated him as hired help."

"Hey, I appreciated the work," Harry interjected.

"So, Savior of the world, why did the wards, that were obviously protecting your house, fall?" Kate asked with just the slightest hint of sarcasm. Harry looked straight at her, and shrugged. "Okay, then, so the wards are down. What can we expect, or can I go put away my gun?"

Harry looked at the gun. He knew that they could kill people but what good could it do against a fully-trained wizard, and a Death Eater at that. A though suddenly came barreling to the front of his mind. "You are a witch right?"

She smiled. "One fully trained witch in your service. Graduate of the Salem Witches' Institute, Suma Cum Laude, thank you very much. I also graduated from Sawyer School for Magic as Head Girl. So a breakdown of what is going to happen would be great."

Harry took a deep breath and began. "Death Eaters for start. I'm guessing it will be the Inner Circle. Lord Pain-in-my-arse wouldn't trust my capture, or death, to flunkies. Then, he might show up as well. Any manner of dark creatures is a possibility, but most likely Dementors."

Kate, for her credit, shrugged. "Okay, creatures are ruled out. They'd be too hard to control in this environment. Dementors will be tough unless by some miracle you can cast a Patronus. So I would like more info on these Inner Circle wankers."

It was Harry's turn to smile, "I can in fact cast a corporeal Patronus. I've had that particular ability for more than three years. I only know a few of the wankers. Lucius Malfoy will be there. He's an arrogant prick, but he knows Dark magic, and a lot of it. Crabbe and Goyle are large, but stupid. Dolohov I don't know so well, he killed the Prewetts during the last war. He has this spell though, he cast it without words, and my friend nearly died. He's big, and quick. McNair may be there. He works at the Ministry and likes bloodshed. I don't know if she'll be there but Bellatrix Lestrange is dangerous. She'll use any opportunity to take a life. They, and others, were all in prison when I left school. I don't know if anything has changed. My friends haven't told me anything, and I don't trust the press."

Kate's face darkened as he spoke. Fire blazed in her dark eyes as she gazed past him down the street. In that instant Harry knew that Kate did not like to fight but she understood that on occasion it was necessary. Even when those occasions were in the middle of Muggle residential neighborhoods.

"Okay, so how long do you think until they get here?"

Harry looked down the street. He truthfully had no clue. "Anytime." Merlin, he hoped that the Order was on the way. Of course, he hadn't heard hide nor hare from him minder which did not bode well. "What were your plans tonight? I'm guessing it wasn't a duel."

Kate smiled, "I have a date actually. I think I'm going to…" Kate trailed off. "He's coming to pick me up. He's going to get caught in whatever is coming."

"Well, I'm sure it'll scare him away," Harry joked.

"Damn! I'm here for months and don't meet anyone! I meet a nice guy and our date is going to get interrupted by a fire fight. This is so typical of my life!" Kate laughed.

Pain ripped through Harry's skull. His body was filled with a secondary, yet overwhelming, hate. Hate born of pain and premeditation brought Harry to his knees. Just as quickly, the pain was gone, but the Death Eaters were coming.

Kate was looking at him strangely. Harry knew she was just experiencing the standard response when anyone saw one of his episodes. He looked up at her. "They're here."

Needlessly announcing their arrival with a load of stunners, perhaps a dozen Death Eaters were walking up Privet Drive toward them. Not a single stunner had hit its intended target. They either fell far short or sailed over Harry's head.

Kate turned to her right stuck out her let hand which held her gun and fired. Harry flinched at the sound out of reflex and watched a Death Eater toward the front of the pack fall and ceases to move. Harry could see the puddle of blood pooling beneath the body.

"Well, I guess that answers my question about your gun," Harry dead-panned as they sprinted behind Vernon's large German sedan for cover.

"What was your question?" Kate asked as she pulled out her wand. Harry noticed it was longer and thinner than any he had seen previously.

"I was wondering what a gun could do to a fully-trained wizard," he explained. He peered over the hood of the car and ducked quickly as a beam of blue light streaked past his ear.

Kate smiled at him. "Generally all these anti-Muggle pseudo-dark lords feel that anything Muggle is beneath them. They know little or nothing about Muggle weapons which provides us a distinct advantage. Muggles may not have magic but that does not mean they are stupid." Even before she finished speaking she stood and fired another shot with the gun from her left hand and a _Stupefy _with her wand in her right hand. Harry was impressed.

A figure in the very front row of Death Eaters stopped for a moment, another in the clutches of a twenty-two caliber bullet. A Death Eater toward the back fired off the counter as his or hers comrade fell to the ground. They stepped over the blood and body of another.

Vernon's sedan began to shake and pull away slowly. Kate reacted in kind and cast a summoning charm herself.

"Harry, we need to move. Moveable objects don't make good cover as a general rule," she offered matter of fact.

Harry smirked in response. "I'll remember that. Inside then?"

With Kate straining to control their temporary cover, they turned toward the front door. As the opposing forces play tug-of-war with Vernon's car, Harry could hear the metal starting to give way. Fortunately, they were nearly to the door with a force Harry could never have placed within his new ally, Kate slammed the car into the lawn and sent dirt flying. Spells starting pouring in on them from the Death Eaters as they realized Harry's escape was growing more possible by the second.

Little did they know that the Apparition wards were so tight around the house, no one not even Dumbledore could get in or out, or that the fireplace was not connected to the Floo network.

Within the relative safety of the house, Kate came to a realization. "Why the hell am I the only one casting any spells towards these wankers?"

Harry winced as she turned on him. "I've already gotten two citations for the Restriction of Underage Magic! I don't want to get expelled!"

"Harry! You dumb-ass! My grandmother helped right that law! The very first provision within that Decree is "threat of the bodily harm to self or others"! So quit being a wuss and give me a hand!" Kate screamed at him.

He was so worked up that no one had bothered to mention that piece of information that he fired off a stunner at a Death Eater attempting to breach the ward that was protecting his family's home. Two intruders went down hard. Kate raised an eyebrow but said nothing. She knocked out a pan of glass in the front of picture window and fired a quick shot with her pistol and a stunner with her wand.

"Harry we need help. Even from in here." Even as the words left her mouth the sound of a car horn distracted all those involved. Harry and Kate looked quickly and took advantage of the Death Eaters' distraction. Harry got off two stunners and Kate got off three and two shots before they returned fire. Their curses bounced off of the house and skidded into the dirt. Just as Kate was about to ask Harry why the house was protecting them a black sports car barreled into the convened Death Eaters. Several flew into the air, two went the opposite. Beneath the tires.

"Kate, I think your date it here," Harry offered as he watched three black-clad figures hit the pavement. Harry smiled, and filed that sight away for future good thoughts.

Kate, for her credit was still trying to fire curses and bullets, while staring in astonishment at the damage cause by the sports car.

They heard tires squealing and the smell of burnt rubber floated through the window as the offending coupe prepared to make another pass. Harry and Kate watched as the auto made a direct line for the left flank of the invaders. Just as it was about to hit its assumed target it banked hard left and head right toward the house.

Harry and Kate dove out of the parlor and into the kitchen expecting a rather large crash. None came. Kate peered into the parlor and saw the coupe parked next to Vernon's Sedan. Harry too looked out. The front door opened and closed of its own volition. Harry raised his wand and headed toward the hall. While Kate watched his back and the mounting confusion outside.

"Bill!" cried two voices.

"Hey ya, Harry. Quite the party you've got outside," the eldest Weasley offspring drawled in his standard casual manner. Suddenly, Bill eyes traveled behind his young friend to the woman behind him. "Kate."

"You're a wizard!" Kate screamed.

"Kate, we met outside the record shop next to The Leaky Cauldron. Yes, I'm a wizard. I knew you were a witch," Bill smiled knowingly. Kate's mouth was hanging open. He winked at her and Harry got the impression he was watching a master at work. "So, Harry, why are they here?"

"To dismember, capture, or kill me. You know the usual." Harry responded as he watched Kate still deep within her confusion. "Where is my minder by the way? Who's on duty?"

"I'm not sure. I think the only person who is ever sure is Dumbledore. Not the greatest guy to plan for contingencies, but good on everything else," Bill commented as he looked out the window to the melee outside.

Harry stared at him in shock. He had never heard a member of the order speak against the Headmaster before.

"C'mon Harry, we both know he is not faultless," Bill whispered. He quickly fired off two spells Harry didn't know and two more invaders hit the dirt. Kate was back at the window doing her best to take out the small army against them, though Harry suspected she was no less confused as to Bill's appearance.

"Damn," Kate swore softly. "I'm out of rounds."

Harry was wondering why she didn't just summon them, when she did just that. Except she didn't just summon some bullets, she called for a large cabinet that slammed through what remained of the front window. Bill smiled at her. Harry fired off a few more spells. A Death Eater suddenly found himself in the throws of the Jelly-Legs Jinx. The offender's confusion was dimmed quickly when he was unable to block the binding charm that followed.

"Excellent Harry! The shit never saw it coming," Kate complimented. She was sitting on the floor refilling a magazine.

Bill was looking thoughtfully at the house. He walked from the room. Harry could hear him mumbling in the kitchen.

"Harry, how do you know Bill?" Kate asked as she settled into Vernon's armchair.

"His youngest brother is my best mate. I've known him for a few years now," Harry asked as he watched out the window. The Death Eaters were milling around in confusion.

Oddly he had not seen a single Inner Circle Wanker. Suddenly it dawned on him. Diversion. He was a diversion.

Just as he was about to try and convince Bill and Kate that something else entirely was going on, the Death Eaters raised their wands as one and cast a spell Harry didn't know or hear at the house. The house shook and shuttered. Bill screamed for him and Kate. Kate was warily watching Harry. Suddenly, he felt Bill grab him around the waste and with the other hand grab Kate's hand. He pulled them out the conservatory. The last thing Harry saw was the bright blue of the Saturday afternoon.

The Surrey Sentinel

Quiet Neighborhood Rocked by Explosion

Residents of Privet Drive in Little Whinging have never been so relieved to have attended an emergency Town Meeting Saturday. Upon return, they found their route home blocked by swarms of police and fire crews. Indignant resdidents were mollified when it was explained that several homes had been destroyed but no lives lost.

Mr. Vernon Dursley, of Number Four Privet Drive, was the first to ask the cause. While still officially under investigation, it is reported that the explosion centered around Dursley's home.

His neighbor, Mrs. Alison Darcy, expressed her feelings that Dursley's "deviant nephew" caused the explosion.

"He attends St. Brutus' Center for Incurable Criminal Boys!"

Mrs. Darcy is apparently unaware that St. Brutus' closed in 1983. Though, there is no record of anyone of the name Dursley enrolled in any of the local secondary schools.

Mr. Dursley's nephew is currently unaccounted for, as is another resident.

**EXPLOSION** continued 4A


End file.
